Who changed the world ?

Microsoft, Intel and their partners have changed the way the world computes and has improved the lives of the poorest of the world. They continue to change the world with projects like One Laptop per Child

Nokia, Skype and their industry peers have changed the way the world communicates and has improved the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to change the world with applications like mobile microfinance.

Google has changed the way the world accesses information and has enlightened the minds of millions of people around the world including those of students in the developing world. It continues to change the world with projects like Google Books Library Project

Toyota, Honda and other automobile manufacturers have changed the way the world travels and has transported modern amenities into the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to do so especially in the world of medical services for the poor and displaced like this Mobile Clinic in Rural Rwanda

Next time a company claims that it has changed the world, ask how.

Resource utilization

In our organization, every server machine that hosts an application has a monitoring system installed on it. The monitoring system tracks the utilization of various machine resources like CPU, memory, disk space, etc... The system raises alerts when some utilization goes beyond a pre-defined threshold and is sustained over a pre-defined period of time.

I received one such alert this morning from one of the machines hosting my application. And, later during the day, I had some very frustrating moments arguing with some managers about resource utilization. Yes, it was about "human" resource utilization.

It seems very strange to me that in an IT organization where human resource is the biggest asset, we have continuous monitoring of server resource utilization but nothing for human resource utilization.

I see many projects being overstaffed and poorly managed. And, at the same time, there are some projects that are understaffed with resources utilized beyond normal thresholds. Senior Management needs to have human resource utilization monitoring in place. Mid-level managers must be held accountable for over-budgeting and over-staffing. Because, over-staffing and over-budgeting of one project invariable means that there is some other project out there that is will not get an appropriate budget or staff.

I hope my managers are reading this !

Bad blogger

Hello Blog,
I've been a very bad blogger - this is my first blog in over 6 months :-(

Over the last 6 months, I have tried to write several entries but I never completed any of them because I wanted each one of them to be perfect. And, of course, nothing can ever be perfect and my entries withered away as unfinished drafts.

Now, I have decided that whether my entry is perfect or not, whether it is complete or not, I am going to publish it anyway. You ask why?

Because, for the first time in my (very short) 5-year career, I am encountering some very furstrating moments at work and I want to use this blog as a punching bag. I want to vent all my stress and frustration here in this ethereal space.

If you are reading my blog and empathize with me, please do send me your comments at vijaypm_@_gmail_._com. But, if you do not empathize with me, then you are lucky. You either have a great job or you are the frustration for others at work.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I'll try to be regular with my posts.

Later...

Death of native user interface APIs

It's been a long time since I blogged here. So, I thought I'd toot my own horn one more time ;-)

Anyway, several months back I wrote that app-servers installed on desktops would power desktop apps.
http://www.macronimous.com/resources/J2EE_Application_Servers_on_Desktops.asp

Here's a VC who's talking about the same with a slight twist: app servers installed on a remote server would power AJAX-based apps to replace desktop apps.
http://earlystagevc.typepad.com/earlystagevc/2005/09/ajax_office_is_.html

Another twist to my view is the emergence of platform independent applications developed using Eclipse SWT as a strong replacement for desktop apps.

Only time will tell which of the above three approaches will eventually dominate. Who's rooting for me?
auf Wiederhören!
Vijay

Does Google search?

Hi Everyone
Lately, I have been having this feeling that google's page rank algorithm will become its nemesis. I have started using dogpile more often now. The search results on google have been getting very bad recently. Either I am really stupid and not entering the right search terms or website owners have become too smart for the page rank algorithm or google has lost focus on its core business and is too busy doing laser photography of the streets of San Francisco.

Here's a search that really frustrated me. When I did a search for "j2se 1.4 documentation", I expected to see http://java.sun.com at the top. It was not even on the first page of results in google. Even the dozers got it right.

Is GOOG really worth that price?

Searching......

G8 and Climate

With all the buzz about the G8 and the Live 8 concerts, I wanted to bring to your attention a very important but saddening statistic:
Average CO2 emission per person per year:
India - 1 ton
UK - 8.9 tons
US - 19.7 tons

It is sad that the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt and flood poor 'third-world' villages while people living in the west including yours truly continue to pollute the world with our mobile factories aka cars and our enormous appetite for electric power.
I must apologize to my friends in Europe but I think the heat wave in Europe is good for the world. It's at least got Tony Blair talking of 'acknowledg(ing) scientific evidence' and an 'Immmediate action plan' while his bird-brained counterpart is still talking of the climate as a 'Long-term issue'.
Save the world from SUVs!

End Poverty!

For the first time in a long time, today, I salute an American news agency. I salute Time magazine for discussing world poverty in its cover story and putting the face of the poor on its cover. Time is one of the world's most popular news magazines and the cover story will bring poverty under the spotlight of the world for at least two weeks, before the next issue of Time comes out.

The cover story, "How To End Poverty" is an exclusive book excerpt from an upcoming book by renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs titled "The End Of Poverty". The book is supposed to be quite controversial in its open attack on the rich nations for their indifference towards poverty and suffering in the world.

As a subscriber to Time, I have access to the online version of the story. Unfortunately, I cannot share it with others due to obvious copyright issues. But, I can discuss my thoughts on the story and give you the gist of it. So, please watch this space in the coming weeks for my discussion of the story. As I discuss the "End Of Poverty", I will also continue my discussion of the ten Love Commandments. Love can heal!
Another Day in Paradise

Love Commandment One

Love Commandment 1: You are never too young or too old to love.

In the past, I have been told several times that I was too young to be in love. And, people continue to be surprised and agitated when they hear that I am married. I don't blame them. Here's why.

In their world, men and women must exist for about 25 years before they can experience and understand love.

In my world, your age is not the number of times the earth went around the sun since you were born. Your age is the number and nature of the experiences you have lived through. I believe the child soldier fighting a war in some war-torn nation has lived longer than most people's lifetime. Even the little child that begs for a living on the streets of your city has lived longer than most people you will ever meet in your life.

So, the next time you find people judging you by the numer of calendar years that have passed since your birth, you will know that they have not lived life and do not understand it. And, if they do not understand life, they must have no clue about love. So, just forgive their ignorance and feel sorry for their existence.

Can you feel the love?

Happy Valentine's to all of you!
Love is in the air for many of my dear ones and I thought I'd share with you and them some of my views on love. Don't worry, I'll stay clear of all the mushy stuff. Before you read on, please remember that these views are from the perspective of a (proud?) lovable (yes, that's me) Indian male (MCP? Me? No way! You must be kidding!). Anyway, I present to you the Ten Commandments of love that I try to abide by:

1) You are never too young or too old to love. (one of my favourite pet peeves)

2) Learn to tolerate society, and to ignore it whenever necessary.

3) Never give up your relationships for your love.

4) Never give up your love for your relationships.

5) Never deny your love.

6) Never publicize your love.

7) Never try to impress your lover; love your lover.

8) Never try to justify your love.

9) Never fear love or its consequences.

10) Always honor your commitment to your love.

I'll talk about these commandments in detail in the coming weeks. But, until then, think about them and let me know what you agree or disagree with. And I encourage you to come up with your ten commandments that I can share with everyone.
And I Love Her!

World Economic Forum (WEF)

An interesting panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:

The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?

In case you don't have the time to go through the entire 27min video, here are the locations of some important moments in the video.

12:00 min - Bill Gates

"..take the example of things that are working and really get that story out, prove that the money can be very well spent and show the impact that it has.." - Gates

16:00 min - Bono

"I don't think 6,000 Africans dying everyday of a preventable disease like AIDS is a 'cause'. I think it's an emergency. And, I don't think 3,000 Africans dying from a mosquito bite is a cause. I think it's an emergency." - Bono

19:15 min - Bill Clinton

"The President just asked for $80bn for the Iraq war for a year. For a pittance of that we could double America's international assistance in all these areas." - Clinton

"Anybody who says we shouldn't do this because there is corruption or incompetence ought to be put into a closet and not listened to again." - Clinton

23:00 min Bono

"Paint those AIDS drugs red, white and blue if you have to but they are the best advertisements for our ingenuity, our science, our capability.. " - Bono

For more WEF webcasts, go here.

Hindi-Chini bhai bhai

I just discovered a very interesting series of articles on rediff.com - The India-China War, 40 Years On
The articles are on the Indo-China war of 1962 and the articles were published in 2002 but I chanced upon them only tonight. I was reading about India and China in the CIA's "Mapping the Global Future" report and decided to google "india china", when I hit upon the rediff.com series.

The CIA's report that I mentioned above tries to predict the state of world affairs in the year 2020. The report is quite long and so I recommed the executive summary which has sufficient details and is a manageable read. If you are interested, you can also read the predictions for the year 2010 and 2015.

Now, coming back to the rediff.com series, I suggest that any Indian with even an iota of patriotism read at least a few of the articles and get to know India's history better. I strongly recommend the article on "How Nehru let us down". The history lessons we are taught in school talk only about the "greatness" of our leaders and never about their failings. This article takes a look at how a leader's foolhardiness led to animsoity between two great nations and the subsequent humiliation of several hundred million people. Will the seeds of distrust sown by Nehru ever be removed?

Donate Effectively!

From what I have been reading in the media, it appears to me that aid agencies have been flooded with donations and some of the donations may be going waste due to poor distribution. So, I assume that it might be safe to hold on to your donations for now and wait till the aid agencies get their logistics right.

While I suggest that you don't make any donations right away, I entreat you to decide on the amount of your donations and set aside the money NOW itself while the feeling lasts. Because six months later, when aid agencies run out of funds, when the politicians have got enough publicity and when govts have impressed enough (united) nations, your donations will be needed for the care of thousands of orphaned children and the rehabilitation of tens of thousands of people; your feelings for the afflicted then may not be as intense as they are now.

Remember, your obligation to humanity does not stop at the dotted lines on your checks. It starts there! Please donate wisely and generously, and ensure that your donations make a difference.

Tsunami Help!!!

If you are looking for a way to help the victims of this great disaster, you can find useful information at the following links:

Go to The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami .If you visit this website using Internet Explorer, you will find links to aid organizations and some statistics on the right-hand side of the page. If you visit this website using any other browser, please scroll down to the bottom of the page for links and statistics.

Go to BBC: Asian disaster: How to help for web addresses of some international aid agencies.

Please donate generously and prevent the next immediate disaster - disease.
Help!

Hollow Not Halo

That was not such a long break, was it? Anyway, I am back! And in case you are wondering, blogging slipped a little bit from the top of my pirorities list; my wife's trip to India overtook it. Anyway, now that she has reached India safely, I have blogging back at the top of my list. As promised to you earlier, this time I am going to share my thoughts on Halloween.

For the uninitiated, Halloween is celebrated every year on Oct 31. Children of all ages (even 75+ yr olds) across the U.S. dress up in "spooky" costumes and go from door to door tricking and treating. Dressed as Spidermen, Potters and witches, they go around their neighborhoods knocking on doors asking their neighbors to choose between treating them and getting tricked. Of course, almost every neighbor chooses to treat the visitors, not because the visitors know any tricks but because no one wants to be labelled the stingiest guy on the block.

This Halloween, the average American consumer would have spent $43.57 on Halloween-related purchases. Of this, a third would have been spent on candy and a third on costumes. The country as a whole would have spent approximately $3.12 billion dollars. Sugar levels would have gone up adding more children to the ever-growing population of diabetics and waistlines would have become larger adding to a booming obese population. While large quantities of candy would have entered the guts of people, large quantities would also have ended up in trashes, discarded by anxious parents and jaded kids. And, a lot of clothes and fancy outfits would have ended up in the dumpsters the very next day.

I don't mean to be a spoil-sport and I don't say that people should stop having fun or treating themselves. But, it's a shame that half of the world's 6.4bn people subsist on less than $1 a day when 295mn people spent an average of $10 each for fun and festivities on a single day. It's a shame that a nation spent $3.12bn for a single day of fun when the World Food Programme had a shortfall of $0.26bn (as of Oct 11,2004) and could not meet the critical needs of half a million people. It's a shame that people spent $15 on a stupid Spidey or Harry costume when a chronically hungry child could be fed for half a school year.

We don't have to be saints (the Pope has already beatified a record number of them). But, we should not be selfish wastrels, either. Let's show some restraint when we splurge on unhealthy and wasteful treats; let's stop to think of the needs of the millions starving in the rest of the world before we spend the next buck.

Heal the World!

Mixed Feelings

I wanted to share with you some thoughts that occurred to me on Halloween (Oct 31). But, I think I will do that another week because there is something more important to talk about - the recently concluded elections in the U.S.

I am having mixed feelings about the results of the elections - I am happy, sad, amused and disgusted that Bush won.

I am happy
....because I expect more unilateral actions by the U.S. that (I hope) will alienate it further from the rest of the world paving the way for some much-needed shifts in geopolitical alliances.
....because greedy Corporations will thrive and contiue outsourcing America to developing nations like Brazil, India and China improving the lives of millions of people.
....because people all over the world will continue to have someone they can despise and ridicule (a good stress reliever).

I am sad
....that Uncle Sam will continue to bully weaker nations prompting more nations to acquire or develop nuclear deterrents and leading to nuclear proliferation.
....that America's aggressive behavior will continue to fan the flames of extremism throughout the world making the world more dangerous.
....that the world's bigger polluter will continue to stay out of international efforts to make this world a better place for you and me.

I am amused
....that Bush was re-elected for his moral values when America is tuned into Wife Swap on prime-time television.
....that the world's second largest democracy has only a choice of two (before your jaws drop and your eyes pop out, here's a disclaimer. Disclaimer: the following words are NOT mine and belong to one of America's greatest film directors) "stupid white men". Americans can either go left or right but not straight. (no wonder America always sees the world as "US vs them")

But, I am definitely not amused by this.

I have to stop here. I am already sick of the current state of affairs and writing about it is making me even more sick.
God bless the World!

Vanakkam

Hello and Welcome!

Finally! I made it to blogworld. I have wanted to blog for a long time now but always thought I didn't 'have' enough time. As I started visiting more and more blogs, I began to realize that if so many busy (and successful) people including the executive I admire the most, Jonathan Schwartz had the time to maintain a blog, there was something wrong with the priority I had set for blogging. I decided to move blogging to the top of my 'to do' list and here I am with my very first posting.

What will you find in my blog? You are going to find me ranting and raving on a whole bunch of issues. I will share my thoughts and opinions on politics, technology, culture, personalities, management, religion and, the most important of all, humanity (which is why we are on this planet). But, I must warn you that some of my views may anger you. Though, you are more than welcome to punch me at victoryforblog at yahoo dot com.

Who am I? I am still trying to figure that out.

What do I do? For now, I'll just say I build software as an engineer for a silicon valley company (sorry! not allowed to say which one). I will give you more details about myself in future posts. After all, this is just the beginning of our conversation.

I expect to post on a weekly basis. So, until next week, take care and see you! If you want to catch me before that, I am at victoryforblog at yahoo dot com.

Vanakkam
(Tamil for Goodbye)